This invention generally relates to a pest control system, and more particularly to such a system that is at least in part environmentally degradable.
Many pests, such as but not limited to termites, are serious threats throughout much of the world to structures or other objects containing wood or other cellulose containing components because these pests consume cellulose for nutrition. Subterranean termites, which typically dwell in the soil, often form large colonies. Members of the colony forage for food and thus burrow galleries or passageways in the soil outwardly from the nest. Portions of the food located by the foraging termites are returned to the nest. Termites are also known to possess means for communicating the location of a food source to other termites within the colony.
Many pest control systems are known and formed in a wide variety of configurations to monitor and eradicate the pests. One type of popular termite control system, for example, utilizes a monitoring food source made from a medium that is attractive to termites to encourage the termites to begin feeding from the device. The termites are then eliminated by providing a toxicant-containing bait material placed at the feeding point in the termite control system. Perhaps most important, termite baiting results in the elimination or suppression of the entire termite colony, not just the members of the colony that reach the system site, because the toxicant-containing bait is brought to the nest with the returning termites. Because a termite bait must be consumed by termites in order to be effective, a technique must be developed to consistently and repeatedly make the bait available for consumption by members of a termite colony at a fixed point over a long enough period of time for the bait to have the intended toxic effect on the colony.
Typically, the toxic termite bait is applied only after contact has been established with a termite colony and termites are feeding from the system. Reasons for this include minimization of the amount of bait used, potential deterioration of bait if it is left in place for long periods of time in anticipation of prospective termite attack, minimization of the potential for unintended exposure of children and pets to the bait, etc. Therefore, it is preferable to first detect termites at the bait holder with a nontoxic medium while monitoring the site. After termites are detected, the toxic bait is applied to the bait holder.
Such systems must be inspected periodically, such as every one to three months, to determine whether termites are active within the bait holder. However, to accomplish this, a baiting system must deal with several issues that, left unresolved, make a baiting method and/or system less likely to succeed. For example, when inspecting the monitoring medium or the bait within the bait holder or when adding or replacing the toxic bait, the feeding site is typically disturbed. This may cause the termites to abandon the bait holder altogether. Additionally, when a monitoring material or bait is left in place for a relatively long period without replacement, its useful life (e.g., efficacy or otherwise its ability to perform as intended) is diminished. Thus, there is a need for a pest control system for monitoring and/or controlling pests in which the system encourages replacement of the monitoring material and/or bait once the useful life thereof has ended or is substantially diminished.